Those Nights
by eclarefanxxx
Summary: Clare faces a terrible tragedy and finds herself being cared for by Eli. Suckish summary... give it a shot? :  ONESHOT.


Those Nights…

Eli opened the door that rainy night to Clare, who was crying and shivering uncontrollably on his porch.

He gently pulled her into the house and closed the door behind them. He kept his voice gentle as he settled her into his arms. "Clare, what happened?"

She shook and sobbed in his arms, the volume of her cries increasing.

"Okay, okay, come here." He moved them into the family room and onto the couch. He sat her down on his lap and she buried her face in his chest, her chest shaking and constricting from her trying desperately to stop her tears. "It's just me, Clare. You can cry; just let it out, sweetie." A whole new fit of sobs burst out of her as she allowed him to pull her closer and rest his head on top of hers. "Shhh," he tried to sooth her.

Clare eventually grew very tired from her crying and rested her head on her boyfriend's chest. She felt his hand find its way into hers. "Thank you." She whispered.

He kept his head perched on top of hers. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I suppose so," Clare answered as Eli moved so he lay on the couch with her perched next to him, spooning up behind her. "My sister died."

Eli gasped lightly. "I'm _so_ sorry. I didn't know you had a sister; you never told me."

She snuggled closer to him, feeling tears prick at the corners of her ice blue eyes. "Well, I did. She went to Degrassi with me before I met you. She was 20."

Eli sighed sadly and drew her closer to his heart. "Baby, I had no idea. What happened?"

"She hit her head really hard and had internal bleeding. Since she was doing volunteer work in Africa, she wasn't given proper medical treatment and died on the scene." Clare gulped and slid her arms around Eli's which were around her stomach, holding him to her. "It happened this morning. My parents have been planning the funeral all day long. It's this Saturday if you'd like to come."

Eli smiled a weak, watery smile. "Of course I'll come, Clare. I am so sorry." She burst into tears again and a minimal amount of warmth flowed through her as he flipped her around and drew her into his chest, allowing her to cry on him. He softly stroked her curls and hummed softly to her, hoping to lull her to sleep.

Clare was rather restless for the next hour. "Do you want to watch a movie? Can I get you anything?" Eli asked her carefully, grabbing her hand and placing a gentle kiss on it.

"A glass of water would be nice; thank you. Can we watch Remember Me? It's my favorite movie." Clare whispered shakily, sighing contentedly for a brief moment as he smiled and stood up to get her a glass of water. When he returned, they settled onto the couch as Eli popped the movie in.

Towards the end of the movie, the sad 9/11 death scene came on and Clare's eyes watered up. Eli noticed this and gently pulled her on top of him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. Clare silently wept until the end of the movie as he held her, not saying a word.

Once the movie ended, the sat quietly in Eli's dimly lit living room. Clare was the first to break the silence, speaking from her perch on Eli's lap. "Do you know what I'm going to miss most about Darcy?"

"Mmm?" Eli murmured, kissing her forehead tenderly.

"I'll miss the way she helped me through just about all of my problems. I'm going to miss how much I looked up to her; I was always jealous of how much prettier she was than me. She got all the boys, and I was in the shadows. She assured me that I would find someone amazing one day, and I never listened to her, even though she was right because I'm sitting on his lap right now." Clare said softly, leaning into his embrace. Eli smiled softly at his girlfriend. "You're beautiful, Clare. You really, really are. I'm sure your sister was beautiful as well, but you are the most beautiful girl on the planet to me."

Clare looked up at him and smiled through her slightly reddened eyes. "Well, she's a lot different looking than me. She had long, straight brown hair and brown eyes."

Eli smirked. "Well, it sounds like she looked a lot like your mom, and you look more like your dad."

"Exactly, but she looks almost exactly like our cousin Anna. Anna and Darcy were always close since Anna's only one year younger than Darce. She's our mom's sister's daughter." Clare laughed lightly at the memory.

Eli kissed her forehead again. "It's really nice that you can remember things like that. Hold onto those memories your entire life, Clare. Don't ever lose them; they're too precious."

"I know."

"I love you so much, Clare. I'm here for you."

Clare hugged him tightly. "I love you too. Thank you, Eli."

He smiled and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. He kissed her deeply and she slowly kissed him back, locking her arms around his neck.

She slowly pulled back. "Did I tell you my mom's pregnant with Glen's baby?"

Eli's brows furrowed. "No, you didn't. When did you find this out?"

"Tonight. Mom was crying because she felt guilty for 'replacing Darcy' even though she's about two months pregnant." Clare whispered haughtily.

"I'm sorry; that's a lot to deal with in one night." Eli whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek softly.

Clare sighed. "It doesn't really matter. Can we just go to sleep?"

Eli nodded, picking his exhausted girlfriend up and carrying her up the stairs. He gently laid her down on his bed and removed her denim jacket, handing her sweatpants and a shirt to change into. She slowly padded into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, beginning to change. Once she returned, he had changed into pajama pants and a simple shirt.

"Baby? Are you okay?" he asked as Clare abruptly stopped in the middle of the room. A choked sob harshly forced its way out of her mouth as she sunk to the floor.

Eli quickly jumped out of bed and sat down on the floor with her, bringing her into a tight embrace as she cried the last of her tears for the night. He rocked her back and forth slowly, kissing her head gently as she continued to bawl.

"I'm sorry. I was thinking a-about D-Darce again." Clare muttered as Eli softly pressed his lips to hers for a moment.

"Don't apologize, okay? It's alright. Just try to go to sleep." He maneuvered them into his bed and turned off the light. "Goodnight, Clare. I'm right here; it's going to be okay. If at any time during the night you wake up and need to cry again, wake me up too. I refuse to let you cry without me holding you. I love you, sweetheart."

Clare sniffled lightly and hugged him tighter, closing her eyes and nuzzling into his chest. "Goodnight, Eli. I will if I need to."

With that, the tears slowly began to dry on Clare's face as she began to feel extremely safe in the arms of her sweet boyfriend, who was slowly burrowing his face into her curls. It was nights like these where Clare was never happier that she had met Eli Goldsworthy.

**Author's Note- Umm…. Not feeling this oneshot. Yuck. I've been so out of it, and I was exhausted when I wrote this. Please forgive me for the awfulness that is this poem. **

** Also… I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT NOWHERE TO RUN! Don't worry! Chapter 6 will hopefully be up tomorrow night! Thank you all for your support! **


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